Plea to scrap BJP poll symbol dismissed

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday dismissed a lawsuit seeking scrapping of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) poll symbol ‘lotus’ stating that despite being regarded as the national flower, “the lotus has not been legally notified” or declared as the national flower. A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, which also included Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice P. Sathasivam, pointed out to the petitioner that there was no legal bar on the use of lotus as a poll symbol of a political party.

The lawsuit had been filed by a Meerut-based woman advocate, Shaheen Parvez, who contended that just like the national emblem, comprising of the replica of the four lions on the Sarnath Pillar near Varanasi or the national flag Tricolour, the national flower lotus and the national animal lion too cannot be used as the poll symbol by any political party.

Appearing for Pervez, her counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan, told the court that even the Hindu religion accords special treatment to the lotus, which is considered to be the seat of Lord Brahma, the god of creation.

Maintaining that lotus is also associated with several other gods and goddesses in Hindu religion, including the goddess of wealth Laxmi, the goddess of knowledge Saraswati and Lord Shiva, the destroyer, Khan argued that lotus is of special significance even as per the Buddhist religion.

Pervez had come to the apex court challenging a Delhi High Court order, which too earlier had dismissed her plea for divesting BJP of its poll symbol of the lotus.